CHUNG YING GARDEN
Verdict : 8/10 (food and service both good; we were all impressed)
I revisited Chung Ying Garden on 26 January 2008 (Sat.) as part of 11 adults + 2 kids lunch party. No photo this time.
The reason I chose this restaurant was that it is used to large parties and I know the food was decent having eaten here twice before. It turned out to be a good choice. I booked a table one week before. I requested one child-chair then, and it was actually there even before we arrived; well done.
We were given a table in a niche closed to the toilets. It was because there is a large round table there; it was us who requested it, so it was ok, even though it was a bit tight.
When we were seated, 2 large pots of Chinese tea were provided. It is free.
We decided to order some dim sums and only some large dishes as we did not want to order too many at the beginning. We asked our waiter to bring won ton noodles as soon as possible for one of the kids who was hungry and needed to be soothed. And, it did materialise in a matter of 5 minutes. It was just incredible as in other places it happens so often the waiters just don't listen to our requests, even small ones.
As I did not have dim sums, I had Sour and Hot Soup (£2.50); it was good, though not exceptionally good.
Here I just list things I ate. First, Sizzling Oysters with Ginger and Spring Onion (£12). There were about 10 pieces oysters on the plate. I am not particularly keen on cooked oysters, and obviously it was not me who ordered it.
Sweet and Sour Pork (£8). It was too sweet to my taste. I would not have ever ordered Sweet and Sour Pork in British Chinese restaurant, so, here you go.
Chung Ying Garden Special Chow Mein (£7.50). The noodles were thin yellow ones. They were stir-fried plain, and on top of them stir-fried seafood and meat in gravy. This was done beautifully and very rich in content. Although I prefered chow mein with less ingredients, but there was no denying that it was a very strong dish.
Braised eel with belly pork & spring onion (£12), which appeared in a cray pot. This was my choice; I have always wanted try Chinese eel dish, but I could not afford to have to eat one entire dish alone, and I could not miss the chance to share it with others. The eel was cut in tubes, and deep-fried in batter. Then they were braised in black bean & garlic sauce together with deep-fried tofu and dried shiitake mushrooms. At the beginning I had problem with muddy smell (althogh it is normal for eel), oiliness of the fish, and difficulty to eat small bits of eel with bones, but after a while I got used to it and started to enjoy the dish. Very interesting. I would not mind trying it again in the end.
We finished the first round of ordered dishes, and other some other ones. The first to arrive was Crispy Belly of Pork (£8). The pork should have been slow cooked, and the deep-fried to crisped up. The meat was infused with flavour and melting soft. Very nice.
Stir-fried slices of chicken and cashew nuts (£8). This was a bit too ordinary to my taste. Anyway, it was again someone else's chose.
Finally Fried Glutinous Rice with Preserved Meat (£9). The rice is similar to the one we have as the one wrapped in lotus leaf dim sum. On the heap of the rice there was a lot of chopped fresh coriander sliced thin egg omelet. This one was very nice.
The total bill for this was less than £120 (before service added). It is very good for a banquet of eleven people. We did not buy any drink, but it is still good, I think.
And what I learned from this experience is that we really should be in a group of more than four to visit Chinese restaurants like this. Many of the non-dimsum dishes we had were either too much for two people or boring to finish off in two. We had a very good time this time.
Address 17 Thorpe Street, Birmingham B5 4AT
Tel. 0121 666 6622
http://www.chungying.co.uk/
Opening hours: 12pm Midday - 11.30pm (Last Orders) Mon- Sat, 12pm Midday - 10.30pm Sunday
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